Fallen Bird
by bookworm437341
Summary: Something had happened, something bad. Dick was a wreak. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Batman's birds didn't just dies.


**All characters belong to their respective companies**

* * *

Something had happened.

Something bad.

Wally just couldn't put his finger on it.

It had been a week since he'd seen Dick, or even heard from him. Wally simply figured Dick was on some sort of off the books mission, he was famous for them.

The problem was, Batman and Robin hadn't been seen either. Same thing with Batgirl

Batman and Robin had been in Africa as far as he knew, the mission had gone south. That was it, he assumed they had gone home to recover are get a new approach.

But no one had heard anything. No one on the Team, no one in the League. Even their civilian identities hadn't been seen.

The Team had been called to the Mission Room by Red Tornado. Not uncommon, had to have been just a mission right?

As Wally walked into the Mission Room he saw Canary. Along with Green Arrow and Captain Marvel.

All four of these guys here for what? A simple debrief of the mission?

That's when he knew something was up.

Each of them (excluding Tornado, as he doesn't possess any sort of facial expression) wore a look of absolute depression on their faces, it cause Wally to step back.

"Whoa, who died?" He asked jokingly.

He quickly realized that was a bad question to ask.

The Zeta Tube announced the arrival of Roy.

"What's going on?" He asked, quickly reading the room.

Canary seemed to choke on the words, she didn't want to tell them. Meaning it was Team related. Someone on the Team had died, possibly. He didn't like the idea of that being a plausible answer. As the only people on the Team that were missing, happened to be from Gotham, one of them being his best friend.

"Robin has been killed." Red Tornado tells them.

Silence. Not even a gasp. Every single one them, silent, eyes wide.

 _No, no way._ Wally tells himself. _Robin can't be dead._

Kaldur is the first to break the silence. "How?" His voice is tight, but even. He's trying to keep his cool.

Canary shakes her head. "We're not sure. We know about as much as you do. It was Batgirl who informed us of the incident. Superman is currently trying to keep Batman at bay. There is a possibility he will go on a manhunt."

"And Nightwing?" He hears Zatanna ask, her voice sounds empty.

"In the wind. No one knows where he might be."

Wally glances at Roy, catching his eye.

They might.

M'gann has silent tears going down her face.

This was insane, there's no way Robin was killed. He was Robin, this was a kid who was supposed to defy the laws of nature and physics. Seemingly invincible, all while trying to convince you he had no powers to speak of. This kid isn't just killed. No, this had to be some sick joke.

"If any of you need to talk…" Canary begins.

"Are we allowed to leave?" Wally asks abruptly.

"Why? Where are you planning on going?"

"To find Nightwing."

She sighs, than nods. "Go."

Wally glances back at Roy. "You coming?"

He considers it. "Yeah, lets go."

The Team can mourn without them, Wally wants to make sure his friend doesn't do anything stupid. Something he's also famous for.

They make their way through Gotham. Batman is nowhere to be seen, the criminals seem to be taking advantage. But Wally could help deal with that later.

Wally makes sure Roy can keep up with him on his bike.

He send a channel out, hoping Dick will just answer and tell him where he is.

No such luck.

Wally stops.

"What are you doing?" Roy asks.

Wally puts a phone to his ear. "I'd rather not search the whole city."

No answer.

"Dammit." Wally mumbles before trying again

Roy pulls a small device from his belt.

"What's that?" Wally asks.

"Something Dick cooked up for me. Since I'm on my own, I don't have access to a lot of tech. I mean sure I have the Watchtower but…" He trails off as he begins working the controls. "It's really helpful to have this thing. I can trace calls and do a lot of hacking type stuff that I'm not very good at."

"But, you'd be tracking Dick's phone."

"I know. But do you have a better idea. Maybe it might work."

Roy looked down at the device.

"Well, I got something." He annonces. "C'mon, let's go."

* * *

Dick wasn't sure what he was looking for when he got up here, but he couldn't find a reason to go back down onto the ground.

The air was brisk and chilly, but he felt numb to it. He felt numb to everything right now.

He knew people were trying to get a hold of him. But he was tired of the same questions. No, he wasn't okay. Who would be okay in a situation like this?

His little brother was dead, and he died alone at the hands of the Joker.

Dick felt like it was his fault, only he was coming up short as to why.

It annoyed him. Like somehow he was supposed to have been there, thousands of miles from where Batman had told him to be, and somehow magically know Jason had been taken in the first place, and know exactly where the Joker had been storing him.

Dick hadn't even gotten Little Wing's distress signal until it was too late. By then he was long gone and about to get blown up.

What annoyed him more was how he was looking for a reason for this to be his fault. He knew that it wasn't.

Batman had told him to stay in Gotham and watch over it while he and Jason were gone. He did what he was told. There wasn't anything he could've done.

Besides, Batman was doing enough self criticism for the both of them and then some.

He wasn't entirely sure what happened, he had a pretty good idea. After he forced it out of Bruce, and received said information in a rather loud manor.

He felt his phone buzzing in his coat pocket.

Probably Alfred trying to find him.

Dick didn't want to go back to the Manor. Not right now. He just wanted to get away, as far away as possible, and just stay away for a long time.

It buzzed again, and again Dick ignored it. Whoever was trying to reach him could wait. He wasn't going to be of much use anyways. He lacked any sort of motivation to do anything productive.

He'd much rather sit here on the ledge of this building for a while and just be alone.

He was alone a lot anymore.

Dick glances down at the ground. If he fell right now, the impact would kill him.

He didn't feel himself leaning towards the ledge until he began to feel unbalanced.

Dick swung his feet out so they were dangling above the street as he grabbed the ledge to pull himself back into a more secure position.

 _No, no_. He mentally chided. _We're not going to that dark place again. What's that gonna solve, hmmm? Nothing, it'll only make things worse._

It could've been easy, he hadn't even thought about it since he was nine. Even then he knew that a jump like that wasn't going to make anything better.

The wind picked up, it ruffled his hair and cause his to shiver slightly at the unexpected cold. He really should just go home. But he didn't want to. Where he was perched, was calm and quiet, and far away from vengeful father figures.

He bounced his heels against the side of the building. His mind wasn't really wandering, like even it knew how loud thoughts could be, and the silence really was preferred.

Dick heard the sound of a grapple against the wall on the other side of the building. He didn't even bother acknowledging it.

Then he heard the sound of a pair of really fast moving feet coming to a sudden halt.

Yet he still didn't move, didn't turn around, continued to stare off into the distance at nothing in particular.

"Hey man." Wally began, slowly walking towards him. "Aren't you cold?"

Dick shook his head, he didn't feel like talking.

Wally sat to his right on the ledge, his back facing the street.

"Any particular reason you're out here by yourself?" Roy asked him as he sat down on Dick's other side, straddling the ledge so he could face Dick.

"I don't wanna be home right now." Dick tells him.

"We heard about Jason." Wally continues. "We just wanted to make sure…"

"That I'm fine?" Dick snaps. "Would you be?"

"That you wouldn't do anything stupid." Wally finishes.

"Don't worry I won't" Dick's tone is empty. "I really don't want the company."

"Yeah to bad." Roy smirks. "I don't trust anyone, who's lost a member of their family, sitting on the ledge of a fairly tall building."

"What happened?" Wally asked.

Dick doesn't tense up like he thought he would, the question bounces around in his head. They probably wouldn't know. But Dick didn't think he could handle telling them what did happen. He could barely tell Barbara before he broke down sobbing.

"The Joker." He whispers vaguely.

Roy makes a face. "I get it if you can't tell us, be it to hard or you're just not allowed to, but I would appreciate a few more details than the Joker. There's a lot of stuff he would've done to kill him."

Dick's throat felt tight, tears would've been welling up if the cold winter air would let them. He brought his knees up to his chest, resting his chin on top of them.

He could feel Roy and Wally having a silent conversation.

Wally sighed. "You know it wasn't your fault, right?"

He didn't answer. Cognitively, yes Dick knew this was the case. That didn't stop him from looking for a way for it to be his fault. He knew Wally would get upset if Dick told him that.

"Please, I'm begging for that to be the case." Wally pleads.

"Yeah." Dick's voice remains deadly quiet. "I know it isn't. I know there wasn't anything I could so to stop it. To stop any of it."

"Good."

"He was alone. Alone and," Dick's voice catches. "and hurt. I should've been there. I should've gone with them. Or he should've stayed."

"You did what you were supposed to." Roy reminds him. "No one could've predicted this."

"We knew he was loose."

"Did you know he'd be in Africa?" Wally asks. "Because if you did, I'm calling bullshit on the idea that anyone possessing those kind of omnipotent detective skills even exists. So, no you freaking didn't, don't try and argue the idea that you did."

"Two seconds."

"What?"

"Bruce was two seconds late. I saw the footage, he was two seconds late and because of that the wearhouse blew up."

A sigh from both of them. "We're sorry man. Honest to God, this is one of the worst things to ever happen." Wally tells him. "I can't imagine what it feels like."

Dick glances at him. "I don't want you to."

"How's Bruce." Wally sounded almost afraid to ask.

Dick opened his mouth to answer, then closed it again. He had no idea how his mentor was actually doing. He knew Bruce wasn't handling this very well, but that was about it. Dick actually hadn't seen much of Bruce since he got back with Jason's body.

He shook his head. "I don't even know anymore. I surprised there aren't more thugs getting sent to the hospital in full body casts. Of course that might be why Clark has been around. To keep him from doing something he'll regret."

"Should we be concerned that you might do something similar?" Roy asks, caution dripping from his voice.

Another head shake. "No, I didn't even want to kill the guy that killed my parents. I just want the Joker found, and then thrown into a hole so deep Satan can't even crawl out."

Wally snorted. "As close to dead as you can get without actually killing him."

"I'm not going to be the one to do it. I don't care if someone else does. I just hope it isn't Bruce."

"Are you claiming he might?" Roy questions.

"Yeah."

"Damn." Wally mutered

"Are you going to be okay?" Roy asks him

Dick shrugs. "I don't know. Yeah maybe but…" He couldn't finish his sentence. Dick got the feeling he didn't need to. "Does the Team know?"

"They know he's dead. They don't know who killed him."

"Don't tell 'em." Dick advises. "They'll find out eventually, but for the time being it might be best if they stay away from it all."

"Yeah, okay." Wally agrees.

"Look you guys should go home?"

"And where will you be going?"

Dick really didn't want to go back to the manor. Not yet anyway. But if he didn't go back soon Bruce might come looking for him. That was the last thing Gotham needed, he was unstable enough.

"I'm just gonna go home."

"How'd you get here?" Roy asks him.

"Walked."

"And you're just gonna walk back?"

"Nah, I'm gonna fly." Dick tells him, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Do you want company?" Wally asks.

Dick shakes his head. "No, I'll be fine. If I don't get back soon, Batman might leave the cave. We can't have that right now."

Wally nods before he and Roy make their way back down to the ground.

Dick stands getting ready to leave.

"Hey!" Wally shouts from the ground. "Call me before you do anything stupid. I wanna make sure it's being recorded."

Dick smiled, the first one in a week. "Can do." He calls back before stepping off the ledge.

* * *

Wally watched as Dick shot across the rooftops back towards the Manor.

He knew Dick would be okay, given time and some space. Same thing with his mentor.

Wally didn't particularly like Jason, but he didn't want to kid dead. It really was sad. Despite all of the kids flaws, he had a lot of potential. He would've made a great hero. If things hadn't been cut short so suddenly. Before the kid had even reached his peak.

It wasn't fair.

He and Roy split off when they got to the Zeta Tube.

Roy had other things to take care of. Wally wasn't sure what to do anymore.

Does he go home? Give himself time to digest the information, some time to mourn over the idea one of his teammates died.

Wally felt he needed to honor the kid somehow. As much of a pain as he was, he was a skilled fighter. One who had gotten (though Wally had never admitted this publicly) him out a few tight spots.

He didn't want Jason to be forgotten, or thought of as Dick's replacement.

Dick had argued with all of them that Jason had earned the title of Robin in his own right. He wasn't Dick's replacement.

Wally had an idea forming in his head, one he was pretty confident people were going to like.

(break)

"C'mon, I have something to show you." Wally tells Dick.

It had been a few weeks since Jason's death. And it was Dick's first day back since then. Everyone had been sympathetic, wanting to offer their condolences and what not.

Dick smiled and accepted politely, clearly wanting to just leave the situation alone.

"Why are you taking me down to the Grotto?" Dick asks him

"Here."

Wally turns on the holographic projection.

Dick stares at it for a little while, after a few minutes a small grin plays on his lips.

"I know Jason and I didn't really get along but…" Wally trails off. "But he was still a member of this team, a full fledged member, and he was the first one to die. He died protecting an innocent woman. I think future members need to know he wasn't just some replacement."

Dick turns to look at him. "His mother, he was protecting his mother. She sold him out. He still tried to make sure she survived. At least that's what it looks like. I like to think that's exactly what Little Wing was doing."

His face is hard to read. Wally isn't sure what to do with that information. Dick turns back towards the projection, his hands in his pockets.

"This nice. Subtle. A good way to remember fallen heroes. Because, as much as I hate to admit it, Jason may have been the first but he most certainly won't be the last."

"Glad you think so." Wally finally tells him.

The smile grows on Dick's face.

Despite the awful had he was dealt. Wally knew Dick would be fine, Bruce was finally mourning like a normal person. This wasn't the end. They would keep fighting the good fight.

Be it for Jason, or other innocent kids just trying to do what's right.

Dick was right, the sad truth was, someday other heroes would stand proud down here with Jason. After fighting the good fight with their last breath.

Wally was going to make sure each one of their sacrifices would not be in vain.

* * *

 **Just a quick little one shot to keep my mind loose, and how I felt Jason's death affected the team along with the establishment of the grotto. Nothing terribly special. Hope you enjoyed.**


End file.
